I’m Tasting Summer Already! (w/ these Tropical Vegan Nut Burgers)

Not to brag or anything… but I’m sitting here eating one of these burgers right now (not that the time of post and time of write are the same… but still :)) It’s a rare treat (unfortunately rare) for me to have the time to cook AND write up a post all at the same time. But it certainly makes it pretty impossible to NOT go into detail about the soft yet dense texture or the slightly spicy hot inflection at the end of each bite. Or the citrus-y sweet yet savory kick at the beginning of each bite.

But I digress :P

These burgers were created because I wanted to participate in a burger challenge. And although I have some ground turkey in the fridge, I wanted this one to be a little more challenging. I actually just ran out of Beet Burgers in the freezer (I was hording them and trying to make them last as long as possible! But alas, I ate them all :-/) and so this recipe is my ‘yay, its pretty much summer‘ version of beet burgers. Although, if you were to compare the recipes they have minimal similarities. But I assure you, the beet burgers I’d made not too long ago are the inspiration for these! And seriously… how can you go wrong with millet, pineapple, and nuts? These burgers are my new favorites :)

p.s. Don’t be scared about the list of ingredients. Most of them are spices and they can easily be made to be whatever you want!

Start by cooking the millet in a small saucepan. 1/2 cup of millet with 1 1/2 cup of water should do the trick. I cooked it on medium until all the water was completely cooked out, about 15 to 20 minutes. Just keep an eye on it, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Next coarsely chop the peanuts, almonds, pecans, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. I used a pampered chef chopper. Then I added the pieces to a small electric coffee grounder until the pieces started to thicken a bit (like if you were to keep going you’d make nut butter!) I put all the ground nuts in a large bowl and stirred in the flax meal. Set aside.

Coarsely chop the pepper and green onions. Add them to a food processor (I used my Salsa Express) and chop them up to a medium coarse texture. Add to the processor the crushed pineapple. I said about 1 cup in the ingredient list; I had basically a half a can of crushed pineapple in pineapple juice (no sugar). Pulse and pour into a large mixing bowl. To the pineapple mixture add the cooked millet and combine. Add the vinegar and the canola oil. Set aside.

To the nut mixture add the salt, pepper, and spices. Then combine both mixes well. Spray a large baking sheet. I used 1/4 measuring cup to scoop out the batter and put directly on the pan. I wet my hands and then shaped the burgers to be a typical bun size (not that I’ve eaten this with a bun yet! I like them plain best :D); so about 1/4″ thick and 3′ in diameter.

Bake for 20 minutes and the carefully flip over, spraying the pan while you have the patty sitting on your ‘flipper’. Bake on the second side for 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool for at least 15 minutes. I ate two after the 15 minutes but left the rest (makes approximately 16 burgers) on a plate to completely cool before moving them t ziploc bags for the fridge and freezer.

Although I didn’t want to (cause they’re just too tasty to give up), I shared these with my mom and her husband and they really enjoyed them too! They’re a bit different than traditional vegetarian burgers, but if you like sweet, spicy, and savory all at the same time, these babies are for you :D

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I LOVE making vegan burgers. They are just such a wonderful change from regular “burgers” and you don’t feel guilty eating them!! I love the awesome mixture of spices & herbs you have in this recipe! i bet it is SO tasty!!

That photo is phenomenal, as I’m sure these burgers are. Hmmm, I always have pineapple on hand. I admit I’ve never cooked millet before though. Anyway, great one, Aubree! I’d love to have a bite right now … for the perpetual afternoon “waning” period. ;-)